Note: Hello everyone. Long time no update. So I finished with the Max/Michael and Nasedo/Royal Four sections. For the next chapter I’ll work on the Clark/Liz and their gang just relaxing part and Nasedo/Cara section. Hope everyone enjoys this chapter. Thanks for reading and reviewing!

Chapter 36

Max’s Jeep

“We shouldn’t have left so soon.” Michael told Max once they were a few miles away from the Quarry.

Max nodded. “You’re right we shouldn’t have.”

Michael froze for a moment, Max actually agreed with him for once. He took a quick look around at his surroundings. Nope, still summer hot Roswell, no signs of freezing anywhere.

“There was still a lot we could have asked them. Like why would the others believe Khivar when he killed us in our former lives? Doesn’t that say he’s a bad guy?”

“Not necessarily.” Max turned a corner and continued to follow Nasedo’s SUV.

Michael, at first, didn’t pick up where Max was going with his comment but he quickly figured it out. “Ok, so he might not be a bad guy but he’s definitely our enemy. How can they explain their trust in him?”

“There has got to be something their not telling us.” Max spoke distractedly.

Michael scratched his eyebrow. “Try a lot of somethings. While they told us some, Liz and the others are still keeping a lot close to the vest. We’ve got to figure out a way to get them to tell us.”

“Even with everything we shared…I realize that I don’t know Liz at all. She admitted she’d kill me or have Clark kill me and not care. How does that mesh with the sweet, innocent girl I dated?” Max asked his brother and friend.

“She didn’t say she’d kill you. She said she’d kill Isabel, Tess, and Maria if they went after Clark. Clark is the one that’s going to kill you if you go after her.” Michael pointed out in a semi-joking manner. He had to find humor in this whole situation.

“Great.” Max mumbled.

“Why are you getting so uptight about this anyway, you are dating Tess, who in case you haven’t noticed is smokin’ hot, so as long as you stay away from her and Clark you’ll be fine. Right? You are planning on staying away?”

Max kept quite for a second then exhaled softly. “Yes but I can’t stop loving her right away, it’s not a switch.”

“Well for your sake and the sake of your spine you better start losing that love. No good can come from you pursuing her.”

Max stayed silent. For a moment Michael thought he was being ignored but then Max said two words that nearly caused not only Roswell but the whole Earth to freeze. “You’re right.”

“Excuse me?” He had to have heard wrong. Since when did Max agree he was right on matters of his and Liz’s relationship?

“You are right. Liz and I…we’re not…clearly if she…and Tess.”

“Ok you went from making sense to semi-incoherent babbling.”

Max sighed. “As much as I love her, I fell in love with a lie or at least not the true version of her. I don’t know how to wrap my head around that. And as you pointed out, Clark would bend my spine in different directions if I pursued her. My spine’s rather important to me.” He turned into the parking lot of Michael’s apartment building. Tess, Isabel, and Nasedo were there waiting for them.

“Let’s find out what our lying protector wants.” Michael hopped out of the jeep, Max did the same and the two walked over to the other three.

Michael opened the door to his apartment only to have Nasedo push passed him, moving too slowly for his taste.

“Yes, please come on in.” Michael glared at the protector.

“This is no time for human niceties. That was Khivar, why didn’t any of you call me?” Nasedo shouted.

Tess shut the door behind her. Max started to answer but she put her hand up in a universal gesture of ‘wait, let me talk first’. “Why have you been lying to us?”

Nasedo whirled around. “What in the world are you talking about?”

“Khivar told us that he wasn’t here to hurt us. Plus he told us interesting tidbits on our past lives. Much of which doesn’t quite gel with what you told us.” Tess stood only a couple feet from her protector and pseudo father looking closely at his face. There was the twitch. That small little jump of a nerve that sometimes shot up when he lied. It wasn’t obvious to anyone who didn’t know what to look for but she’d lived with him for the majority of her post hatched life and she could notice his minor tells.

Nasedo stared at her incredulously, “You can’t be so naïve. He’s lying to you.”

The nerve jumped again. “No he wasn’t.” Tess closed her eyes, sad that the man she trusted, despite some of the issues they’ve had over the years, hadn’t told her the truth on so many things.

“How can you trust the man who killed you in your past life?” He demanded to know.

Tess shook her head. “I don’t trust him. But I trust my eyes. You’re nervous and that nerve, right there,” She touched the middle of his eyebrow. “It twitches when you start lying. It’s been twitching a lot during this conversation.” She turned away, ashamed at the faith she placed in him.

“Don’t be a fool Tess. This is not the time to question loyalties.” Nasedo shouted.

She whirled around. “But it’s perfectly acceptable for you to question ours? It takes trust to get trust back.”

Max put his hands on her shoulders comforting her as best he could. “How can we trust you now?” He asked the man who was supposed to look out for all of them.

“Everything I have done has been in your best interest. You four needed to be together, united as one to have any shot at surviving the Kryptonian interlopers. They will destroy you if you’re not a unit.”

Isabel crossed her arms angry at Nasedo’s accusations. “You should have been honest with us. We still would have been united. Max, Michael and I are family, always will be and Tess is one of us so no matter what and we have welcomed her with open arms. You should have told us the truth. Had more faith in us.”

“I couldn’t take that chance. In your former life you were in love with Khivar’s father and Krenic supported the Kryptonians living on Antar. The same species that murdered three members of the Royal Family and if my information is correct the Kryptonians living on Antar have helped Khivar take over as the ruling King of Antar. We are looking at a possible war children, I didn’t have the luxury of hoping you’d come around. Who knows what Khivar has planned now that he’s here and has connected with more Kryptonians here. God and we don’t even know what rank Parker, Valenti and the other guy hold. If we’re lucky they will be low ranking but if Khivar’s here protecting them…they can’t be of low rank. That is not good for us and you stupid children keep thinking of them as your friends when they are the enemy.”

The group was silent at the end of Nasedo’s speech. Frustrated with their “protector” Michael stepped forward. “You need to leave my apartment, now.”

“Excuse me?” Nasedo was trying really hard not to strangle the second in command. He just revealed massive amounts of threats on the horizon and Michael’s solution was to ask him to leave?

“Michael’s right.” Max stated. “You need to leave. The four of us, we need to talk alone, we’ll call you when we know where we stand.” In that moment he was every bit the King of Antar that he was destined to be, that he was born to be. Firm but diplomatic, caring about his family and friends but not completely pushing Nasedo away.

Nasedo breathed out through his nose clearly frustrated. “Fine but don’t come crying to me if you make the wrong choice and end up bowing to a murderous race or worse end up dead at their feet.” With that final parting shot Nasedo stormed out of Michael’s apartment.

Note: Thank you so much everyone for the great feedback. Love it as always.

I hope you all have as much fun reading it as I had fun writing it.

Please Read: Since I can see an end in sight (still a few chapters away but it’s quickly coming up), I wanted to ask everyone if there was something you specifically wanted me to touch on from Smallville Season 3 or Roswell Season 2, if there’s anything you want to happen between Clark & Liz or anyone/anything else that you’d like to see, let me know. I’m not promising that everything anyone asks for will be there, since I already have some general ideas for characters and such, but I will try to get in as much as possible. Thanks.

Chapter 37

Dust rose up from the Kent’s, Parker’s, Liz’s friends, and Khivar driving away from the Quarry. Their tires kicked up various clouds coating the air with grayish brown particles.

Liz, Clark, and Jim stayed behind to teach Kyle some more about his abilities. Maria and Alex had wanted to stay and watch but Maria had to get back to the Crashdown and Alex had a band rehearsal that he couldn’t cancel, not with a paying gig so close on the horizon.

“Ok, I want to do that eye heat thing.” Kyle rubbed his hands together eager to get started.

Clark laughed at how excited Liz’s friend was. “Um, just think of something that…” He shifted his gaze toward Jim; he was raised to not talk this way in front of adults.

Liz raised her eyebrows in an innocent fashion but her eyes were mischievous. She enjoyed Clark’s nervousness. “If you can’t say it…” leaving the sentence hanging.

Liz scratched at the back of her neck with her finger. “Maybe we shouldn’t be here for this?” She whispered to Clark. People thought sexual thoughts all the time, it was natural, but it was different to know they were thinking them right at that moment.

A few minutes Kyle grunted with frustration. “Ok I don’t get it. Thinking very hot thoughts and nada.”

“It could be one of two options son.” Jim grasped his shoulder. “You might not get heat vision, a couple of our ancestors didn’t or your body might not be ready to get heat vision. After all you’re getting the feelings of Clark and Liz, if your heat vision were to start showing up now you’d be setting a lot of fires.”

Kyle reluctantly nodded. “Fine. I can accept that. It sucks but fine. What about the speed?”

Jim couldn’t help the smile from emerging onto his face. Kyle looked like an excited five year old at Christmas getting to meet Santa for the first time. It brought back many joyous memories of the past.

“How do I not end up in Mexico by going super fast?” Kyle bluntly asked. “Last time Liz kept a firm grip on my shirt.”

“First, you’ve got to be aware of your surroundings.” Clark explained. “Hyper aware. It’ll take your eyes a little while to adjust to those speeds. My first time testing it out I ended up in Metropolis.” He revealed.

Liz nodded. “Denver for me.”

Clark turned Kyle toward the direction of town. “In order to start just start running. That’s the simple part. When you’re starting out kicking into super speed can feel like a car going into the next gear. You’ll literally feel a jerk when inside when you move that fast. As you get used to it you’ll still feel it a bit but you’ll hardly notice it.”

“Then in order to not end up elsewhere than where you want to be you have to keep your eyes on target.” Liz stepped in. “You want to go to your house for instance, you know that Jones’s Chicken Shack is three blocks from there, when you see that start slowing down. Do it like you would if you didn’t have abilities.”

“Sounds easy enough but you two are going to have to stick with me.” Kyle pushed back his hair and stretched. “Do we get pulled muscles?” He stopped mid-stretch.

“No, but if it’ll help do it.” Liz patted Kyle on the back. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Liz stood still; she and Clark would be keeping pace with Kyle to make sure he didn’t end up in the middle of the ocean. It can be hard enough to master the abilities when you’ve been learning how to work them properly since you can remember but to get the powers out of the blue like Kyle had, it’d take him longer to learn what had become natural to her and Clark.

“First test…well second if you count this morning…to my house.” He told the others of his planned direction.

“We’ll be with you.” Liz assured him.

Kyle stared ahead, he could do this. He’s an all-star athlete in wrestling, basketball, and even baseball. Granted baseball was actually little league when he was ten but still all-star athlete. One deep breath in and…like a shot he took off.

Mountains whizzed by, light brown desert colored hills and valleys blended into the bit of greenery that could be seen around Roswell, nature gave way to man made buildings at a frightening pace. Kyle recognized the tire store that on the edge of town, he spotted the supermarket that was three miles from the Crashdown. Right, left, down the winding road. He pushed his body to go faster wanting to get to his house.

Behind Kyle Clark kept up easily, always two steps away from him, when Kyle sped up so did he. It would take months of practicing for Kyle to get the hang of his abilities. He had grown up thinking and believing he was completely human and to find out that he wasn’t it’d take time to change his belief that he could do the things he and Liz did naturally now.

Liz, on the other hand, she ran in front of Kyle, running backward. She saw her one time boyfriend and long time friend zoom through the streets. People on the street felt a strong wind go by, three Kryptonians running by she was surprised there wasn’t a hurricane in their wake.

Close to reaching their destination she began her slow down. Although from start to finish it took forever to explain it to Kyle the actual process of super speed and the slow down went by in seconds.

Taking notice of Kyle not slowing down at the right time Clark pushed his own body a bit faster and grabbed at his shirt. Liz slowed and put her hands out in front of her gripping his upper arms. “Whoa cowboy.” Using her strength she pushed against Kyle’s accelerated body.

A bit of smoke rose from his shoes as he slowed his speed and the pavement beneath him gave way. The hard cement was nothing compared to his shoes though. The further he got the more shoe he lost. Small pieces flaked away, then larger pieces, until the rubber soles had disintegrated till only the tops remained. His socks didn’t stand a chance and when he finally slowed down in front of his house with help he was left with the bottom of his feet bare and the untouched parts of his socks and shoes still around his ankles.

“That didn’t go like I hoped.” Kyle muttered.

“It’s ok. You’ll get better, it’ll take time. Nobody gets the handle of these things overnight.” Liz comforted him the best she could.

Rocking back and forth on his feet he groaned with frustration. “My clothes budget is going to sky rocket.”

Jim, who had been trailing the teenagers closely, smiled. “I’ve got money set aside for this very thing. On Krypton certain clothes were able to be bonded to us so we didn’t have to worry about damaging them. They were great when in training. We’ll get you new clothes and shoes when you need it. But try to work on the running bare foot, that way we won’t buy you new shoes every day until you get it.”

Kyle agreed. “Good idea.”

“Did you want to change shoes before we go to the Crashdown?” Clark asked.

Looking at his chopped in half shoes again he nodded. “Yea. But should I keep them off for running there?”

Clark shook his head. “No, Liz and I can keep you from destroying your other pair. Just like when she kept a hold of you on the way to school today.”

With a pleased grin Kyle ran, normal speed, into the house, changed and came back outside. With their next destination only a mile away it didn’t take long for the four Kryptonians at the Quarry to zoom back to the Crashdown. The others hadn’t arrived yet, probably still a good half hour away. While they waited Liz got everyone sodas and the four talked about nothing in particular, mindful of the patrons around them, until they heard the cars in the back alley.

~*~*~

Fuming at being thrown out Nasedo wished, not for the first time, that he had Michael’s blasting powers. Unfortunately all he had was shapeshifting and frying someone from the inside. Although killing would ease the frustration a bit he couldn’t risk any of his charges being captured and dissected due to his negligence.

As he turned a corner a beautiful, familiar woman came running up to him. “Nasedo.” She grasped his arm and smiled.

“Cara. What are you doing here?” He demanded.

“Khivar knows.” Cara breathed heavily.

Nasedo let out an angry shout. “Dammit. How long has he known?” He hoped it wasn’t for very long.

“Since the beginning. Khivar gave me fake information to feed to you. Some was real but if it was damaging to his goal…” Cara left the sentence unfinished. She hated that she had been used and lied to for months.

Nasedo breathed in the dry Roswell air, doing his best to calm his…disappointment. “That is unfortunate.” He turned to face her and with lightning fast moves gripped her neck in his hand. “It means I won’t need you anymore.”

“Wait, wait.” Cara struggled to get out.

“No.” Nasedo dragged her into the alley and pinned her against the wall.

“Their…” Cara’s face began turning a deep red. “Parent’s.”

Immediately Nasedo let his informant go. “What about their parents?” His King and Queen.

She held onto her throat relishing the air entering and expanding her lungs. She smiled softly with relief that she was given a reprieve. “They’re here. Khivar has them. Prisoners.”

Nasedo stood straighter. “Hmm, that is interesting.” When he lifted his hand again Cara flinched back trying to get deeper into the brick wall behind her. “Rest easy Cara.” He healed her bruising neck. “You’ve proven your worth. Come with me. The Royal Four,” He spoke with a snide sneer. “Need to hear this.”

TBC

Coming Up: Nasedo brings Cara to Michael’s. Max, Michael, Tess, and Isabel need to make a decision. Jonathan, Martha, Jeff, and Nancy have a parents to parents talk.

Its been a while since I've written anything on this story. The last update was almost 4 years ago, I hit a huge wall after I finished the previous chapter and I didn't write anything except for a couple small things here and there on it, there was a period of time there where I didn't even look at this story for a couple years. Then about 6-9 months ago I started rereading, and consequently, rewriting (only 3 chapters rewritten so far) this story.

Soooo, fast-forward to about 2 weeks ago, I started watching clips (and a couple episodes) of both Smallville and Lois & Clark: TNAoS, and now I almost have an update for this one ready. I'm working on the last scene of the newest chapter and after I post this note I'm diving back into it.

My goal is to have the newest chapter up by July 4th weekend.

So sorry about the long long long wait on this one. Hope there are still some readers for it.

Note: What’s this…a new chapter for this story…YEP! I reread the whole story, cringed as I read some parts (I think that’s natural when it’s your own work), and started watching some Smallville and Lois & Clark: the New Adventures of Superman clips and had to write something for this. Originally I had almost zero idea of how I was going to get to the end of this first book in the series. I knew where it would end, just not sure how to get there. As I was working on this chapter and rereading the previous chapters the way I would get to the ending began to form. There are still a few questions in the air that I have to figure out but it’s a lot clearer now.

Hope everyone is doing well, have a fantastic and safe 4th of July weekend, and I hope that you all enjoy this new chapter.

Chapter 38

Shortly after Nasedo left Michael’s apartment in a huff, the four shell-shocked teens were still silently processing the massive info dump they’d received. Isabel had, to keep busy, gotten everyone something to drink but other than that no one moved and no one had spoken during the minutes their protector had left.

Max sipped at his drink, Isabel opened her mouth but then quickly shut it again, and Michael shrugged. Tess nodded, turned and sat on the couch.

The room remained tensely quiet for another couple of minutes until Max finally broke it. “Basically everything we’ve ever been told by Nasedo is now in question.” He pointed to Tess, not angrily but just so she knew he was talking to her, “Were we even married on Antar? Is there a war going on there? Khivar clearly has next to zero interest in us, which after everything we’ve been told blows my mind. If there is a war going on, do we even have the right anymore to be considering putting our hats in the ring to save Antar? This was so confusing before but in a weird way it made sense…now nothing makes sense.”

“The memories I have say we were married and there has been strife on our planet. Nasedo, however, conveniently left out who or what we’re fighting against.” Tess admitted. “All he ever said was we had to get ready, try to take the throne back, and that Khivar was evil.”

“And we all just went along with it.” Isabel breathed out deeply. “We questioned but we didn’t ask the right questions.”

“Ok, let’s lay everything that we know out on the table.” Michael proposed.

Tess shook her head. “We don’t know much. Nasedo pulled us from the Quarry before we got anything that’d really help us.”

Max agreed. “All we know is Liz, Kyle, Jim, and that Clark guy are Kryptonian.” The three others were amazed that Max kept the contempt for Clark out of his voice. “Khivar according to him, isn’t here for us. The Parker’s, Ms. Deluca, and Clark’s parent’s know about everything.” That time he couldn’t keep the distain out of his tone. “Liz said their only goal was to live their lives but we all saw the exchange between her and Clark after she said that.”

Michael nodded. While the two hadn’t spoke at all, they were clearly communicating with each other. “There is something else going on there. They aren’t just here to survive.”

“And that’s a possible threat.” Tess put out there. Reluctantly the group agreed. They didn’t want to assume the worst of their friends, of people they had known for ages, even if they’d only technically been friends for a year, but none of them could afford to blind themselves to the dangers that surround them all.

“On a more personal level, it’s clear you and I, Michael, were never really together on Antar. Why Nasedo kept trying to put us together is still a mystery though.” Isabel glanced at Tess, hoping she’d have an answer.

“All my life Nasedo has told me of Ava and Zan’s great love. Whenever he mentioned Rath and Vilandra he’d say that Rath was the second in command, most trusted friend of Zan’s, and the love of Vilandra’s life. Vilandra was always Zan and Ava’s best friend, completely behind Zan and supportive of our marriage even when their parents weren’t thrilled, and she was Rath’s friend and confidant before their betrothal.” Tess revealed. “Then the destiny book only strengthened what he told me.”

“What would lying to us accomplish?” Michael asked.

“Nasedo never wavered from the plan of going home. To have Max become the King he was and rule Antar again. Khivar was the obstacle and driving force of the opposite side. Nasedo said Khivar was desperate, our side was winning so he had us assassinated.”

Raking his hand through his hair Michael paced the small living room. “Yet for someone who was threatened by us being alive on Antar, he certainly didn’t care one bit about us either time we saw him. Just wanted us to stay away from Liz and Clark. We need to talk to Liz, get all this sorted out and get more information. We can’t make an informed decision without that.”

“You want more information?” The familiar voice of Nasedo came from the front door. “She’ll help with that.” He pointed to a woman of medium height with brunette hair wearing a silk slip like dress that went to the floor. Although the dress looked simple it had slim threads of gold and silver weaved throughout the material and it shined when she moved.

“Who is she and what are you doing back here?” Max stood and crossed his arms angrily.

“This is Cara. My contact on Khivar’s ship. Khivar found out she was communicating with me and held her captive, she managed to escape and come to me. Cara, please tell the Royal Four what you told me.”

Cara nodded and gave a small curtsey to the Royal Four. Nasedo, as she rose up from her greeting, put his hand on the small of her back, it would have seemed like it was for comfort or to steady her but Cara wasn’t completely snowed. He didn’t comfort, he was warning her—gently. There was only one thing he wanted her to tell them, her revelation was sure to get the four gathered in the living room fired up.

“Khivar took control of Antar, you already know this. But he took control from your parents…” Nasedo pinched her back, Cara fought to keep her expression neutral. “Khivar has them, in the basement of the home he is residing in while he is here. They are bound and gagged, trapped down there.”

Isabel stood and joined her brother. “Our biological parents are trapped? Why would Khivar bring them here? Weren’t Zan and Ava the rulers of Antar when we died? How were our parent’s,” she motioned between Max and herself, “still alive to have had control?” What she knew about many royal families and the succession of power was that the previous rulers, typically, died before the next was given the throne.

Cara was confused, what in the world was Nasedo telling these four?

“It works differently on Antar.” Nasedo intercepted Cara explaining or asking for clarification. “Your parent’s stepped down when Zan finished his training and reached thirty years. Zanrive and Niska, your father and mother, still live and were supportive of Zan’s rule. When you four were callously murdered by a follower of Khivar’s on Khivar’s orders, no less, they took charge and rallied our people to continue fighting.”

Max, Michael, Tess, and Isabel shared a silent conversation. They couldn’t read each other’s minds but in that moment it felt like they could. “You say that our parents are locked up in Khivar’s basement? Correct?” Isabel tilted her chin up.

“Yes.” Cara confirmed. “But…” She abruptly stopped when she felt the hand at her back heat up.

“But what?” Isabel glared.

“But you shouldn’t go and confront Khivar. He has guards on the King and Queen and they have instructions to kill anyone who tries to free them.” Cara explained. Suddenly the heat at her back disappeared. Nasedo was relieved she hadn’t spilled the beans on the lies he told about their pasts.

Cara nodded. “Some but I don’t know what’s truth or a lie. Whenever Khivar talked about anything concerning you four or Livara—“ She stopped when they looked confused, “—I’m sorry I don’t know her name here but it’s who he’s supposed to protect; anytime he spoke about her around me he knew I was Nasedo’s contact and told false information, some he admitted was truth but he didn’t tell me which was which. Any information I do know is useless.”

“Wait,” Nasedo moved in front of Cara. “Livara is here?”

“Yes.”

“In Roswell?” He asked more specifically.

“Yes. That’s why Khivar is here.”

Nasedo slowly closed his eyes. So it was true, Khivar truly had no interest in the Royal Four. His duty brought him to Earth, yes, but he would have gone where ever Myr-Ra had sent his and his wife’s child. That didn’t change his own objective though, he still had to get Max, Michael, Tess, and Isabel to Antar. Preferably with Tess pregnant with Max’s child. How that hadn’t happened yet was beyond his understanding. He knew Tess and Max had been intimate at least twice but so far no pregnancy.

“Liz is Livara.” Nasedo whispered more to himself than any of the others gathered. That explained a few things. Tess had told him how Liz rebuffed the Royal Four’s protection. If she was Kryptonian then she’d have her own abilities, on Krypton they had certain abilities, abilities he knew he could combat, here…he had no idea what Earth’s atmosphere did to a Kryptonian body.

“And Kal-El’s here too.” Cara revealed.

Nasedo’s eyes flew open. “The heir to the House of El? What in the world is he doing on Earth? Why would Lord Jor-El send his son here?” He demanded, grabbing Cara and shaking her violently while yelling out in frustration. All of his plans were going up in smoke before his very eyes.

“Livara is his destined mate.” Cara shrunk back confused at the rage burning in his eyes. She stumbled back as Nasedo let her go.

No, this couldn’t be happening. He started to pace the living room as Michael had been earlier. The well-built newcomer he saw standing next to the Parker girl had to be Kal-El. They clung together like newly found mates.

“Nasedo!” Tess shouted at her protector, jumping in front of him stopping any further pacing. “What is going on? Talk to us.”

“If Kal-El is here…his father was Lord Jor-El, the ruler of Krypton. Jor-El’s goal, his main goal throughout his entire reign, was to colonize various planets. After he’d colonize them he’d rule…enslave, those planets people. And if his son is here, which he clearly is, you can guarantee that he’s going to follow in his father’s footsteps. Those interlopers have already started on Antar. Plus since he’s found his mate they’ll be more powerful and most likely pick up where Krypton and its power hungry ruler left off and they’ll start with Earth.”

“That’s definitely more than wanting to ‘just live their lives’,” Michael stated. No wonder Liz and Clark didn’t tell them everything, taking over the world kind of put a damper on a peaceful existence.

~*~*~

Crashdown Café

“We apologize for the inconvenience.” Jeff handed a free meal coupon out to the last customer. “Please come back soon.” He waved, then shut the door, locking it. They were a good six hours from actual closing time but Jeff and Nancy made the decision to close early.

“Don’t worry about the cleaning Jose, we’ll take care of it. Head on home.” Nancy smiled at their long time employee.

“Thank you Nancy, but are you sure? I don’t mind.” Jose asked as he washed his hands.

“One hundred percent sure. We’ll see you tomorrow.” She waved goodbye to Jose and wished him a safe drive home and closed the back door. Once the back area was empty Nancy pushed out the swinging door while putting her hair up in a loose ponytail. “We’re clear.”

Gathered in the family owned restaurant were the Kent’s, Parker’s, Kyle, Jim, and Maria. Alex was at a band rehearsal and Khivar let them know he’d leave them alone to sort out everything and he’d be at the home he was residing in when they wanted to talk to more.

Maria sat at the counter munching on some fries, happy that work was cancelled for the evening. “So how’d you like zipping around at high speed?” She asked Kyle.

“Fun but hell on the shoes. I wore them and my socks down.” Kyle grabbed a handful of fries from Maria’s basket, earning him a light tap of indignation from Maria. “What, I’m hungry. Speeding around town takes a lot out of a guy.”

“That’s no excuse not to ask.” Maria glared.

Kyle sighed. “Fine. May I please take some of your fries?” He gave her his best angelic expression.

“See, was that so hard?” She pushed the basket of fries more between the two of them.

Martha leaned against the booth next to Clark and Liz who were sharing an ice cream. She had to admit when they were just regular teenagers and not aggressive horny Kryptonians they were cute together. “So those kids and the guy that came to pick them up, are they a threat?

Liz fiddled with her spoon. “We don’t know.” She honestly stated. “We’ve been friends with them for a year, only recently we,” Liz pointed to her, Maria, and Kyle, “haven’t been because they thought being around us was too dangerous, too distracting, pick a reason.” She scooped up another spoonful of ice cream. “They are aliens but not full aliens. They were mixed with human DNA and hatched here.”

From there Liz, Maria, and Kyle switched back and forth telling the story of how they came to be friends with Michael, Max, Isabel, and Tess and the information that they knew. “Now we find out your people and their people are kind of enemies. It puts even more of a crimp in our friendships.” Maria got up to refill her glass of soda.

“Bottom line, it’s a fifty-fifty chance that they are a threat.” Liz finished.

Although Kal-El raged inside Clark when hearing about Liz and Max’s previous relationship Clark was able to keep himself in check. He held and comforted Liz, giving her a sense of safety. He still had trouble picking up all of her emotions across their bond but the ones that were strong and near the surface came through clear as day. When she smiled up at him he felt like he could take on anything.

“When we talk to them again,” Liz felt Clark tense, “you know we’ll have too. And when we do we need to come with a game plan on how much to tell them.”

“If we tell them anything.” Clark argued. I still need to tell you about the message I got from my ship.

“I think we should tell them something.” Tell me now. She gently prodded. Speaking telepathically to Clark was getting easier. It did take some mental strength and the ability to handle two conversations at once at the moment but it was becoming more second nature and less of a task.

“Why?” Clark pulled back and fully faced Liz in the booth. “The more they know the more dangerous they could be toward us.” My father Jor-El, said that while one of my main goals was to find you, my other was to get stronger and get more in touch with my Kryptonian roots and essentially become ruler of Earth.

“But they were my friends for a year. We should be cautious but I don’t think we should shut them out completely.” When it was just her living in Roswell and no other Kryptonian’s, at least to her knowledge, she didn’t feel the need to tell them anything. They weren’t a danger to each other, she wasn’t going to hurt them and despite their fractured friendships, she knew they wouldn’t hurt her. Now it was different, there were a lot more players in the game and she knew that Antarians and Kryptonians had a tumultuous history.

Rule Earth? Liz breathed in a shaky breath. Wow, Jor-El certainly had big ideas. She tightened her hold on Clark’s hand. She wondered, not for the first time in her life, what her biological parents would have said to her in a message.

Clark remained silent, not responding to Liz’s spoken comment. However their minds were anything but quiet. I know. It’s not a goal I’m interested in pursuing. He quickly put out there. But it was Jor-El’s main goal sending me here. Even though he’s not alive anymore he wanted his kingdom and people to flourish. I think he saw Earth as a way to start over again. Rebuild his empire.

Why Earth? Did Jor-El know how our kind is effected here? Or was it the fact that we resemble humans so much that we could blend in until we overtook the planet? Kryptonian’s got such a boost of strength from the sun in this galaxy that it would be impossible to resist for a power hungry ruler and it was handy that they blended in with the planets inhabitants.

Liz shivered and Clark gathered her up into his lap. I don’t know. But I wouldn’t put anything past him. She was so tiny in his embrace, the message from his father really shook her up. Jor-El’s plan could take a flying leap, he wasn’t there to rule Earth. Clark pressed his forehead against hers and lifted his other hand up to cup her cheek. He thread his fingers through the brown strands of her hair. Tension that had built up in her body eased. I can’t do what Jor-El wants.

Neither can I. This planet is my home. My family, my friends, they’re all here. Yes, we’re Kryptonian but we’re also the product of being raised by really great parents. Clark stroked his thumb down her smooth cheek and across her chin.

The gathered group had watched their interaction in confusion. One minute they were arguing back and forth then they went quiet, only to then be cuddling a few minutes later. Jim knew but the others were in the dark.

“Do you really think they can be trusted?” Clark finally spoke at loud, startling the others.

“If we can talk to them without Nasedo, yes.” All he had spread, so far, were lies. Maybe some of what he said was the truth but how were any of them to know what was truth or a lie?

Clark thought it over, “Ok. We can talk to them, tell them more.” He agreed.

Liz smiled and kissed him softly. “Thank you.” Before their kiss could heat up, as it was usual to do, a scream and a crash pierced through the Kryptonian’s ears followed by shouts of help.

“That’s near the park on Grand.” Liz pinpointed the location of the scream. Hopping out of Clark’s lap she hurried from the Crashdown with Clark right on her heels.

Use to the sudden departures, Liz’s friends and her and Clark’s parents, didn’t bat an eyelash. “Who wants something more substantial than fries or ice cream?” Nancy offered.

Immediately everyone nodded or raised their hand. Jeff took their orders and went to help Nancy in the kitchen as they waited for their kid’s to return.

Great to see an update. Hmm Hmm Nesado is trying to turn the pod squad against Liz and Clark by assuming their will do what Jor-El wants. I wonder how complicated things get between the two groups.curious what purpose the royal 4 play that Khivar alluded to. And what nesado's plan.Curious what happens next here, but still waiting for an update to DWD